Formal Assignation of the Kissing Bug Triatoma lecticularia (Hemiptera: Reduviidae: Triatominae) to the Genus Paratriatoma

Vinicius Fernandes de Paiva; Jader de Oliveira; Cleber Galvão; Silvia Andrade Justi; José Manuel Ayala Landa; João Aristeu da Rosa

doi:10.3390/insects12060538

Formal Assignation of the Kissing Bug Triatoma lecticularia (Hemiptera: Reduviidae: Triatominae) to the Genus Paratriatoma

Insects. 2021 Jun 10;12(6):538. doi: 10.3390/insects12060538.

Authors

Vinicius Fernandes de Paiva¹, Jader de Oliveira², Cleber Galvão³, Silvia Andrade Justi^{4

5

6}, José Manuel Ayala Landa⁷, João Aristeu da Rosa⁸

Affiliations

¹ Departamento de Biologia Animal, Instituto de Biologia, Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Campinas 13083-862, SP, Brazil.
² Laboratório de Entomologia em Saúde Pública, Departamento de Epidemiologia, Faculdade de Saúde Pública, Universidade de São Paulo, São Paulo 01246-904, SP, Brazil.
³ Laboratório Nacional e Internacional de Referência em Taxonomia de Triatomíneos, Instituto Oswaldo Cruz, Fiocruz, Pavilhão Rocha Lima, Rio de Janeiro 21040-360, RJ, Brazil.
⁴ The Walter Reed Biosystematics Unit, Smithsonian Institution Museum Support Center, Suitland, MD 20746, USA.
⁵ Entomology Branch, Walter Reed Army Institute of Research, Silver Spring, MD 20910, USA.
⁶ Department of Entomology, Smithsonian Institution National Museum of Natural History, Washington, DC 20013, USA.
⁷ Independent Researcher, Pleasanton, CA 94566, USA.
⁸ School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, São Paulo State University (Unesp), Araraquara 14800-903, SP, Brazil.

Abstract

The subfamily Triatominae (Hemiptera: Reduviidae) comprises hematophagous insects that are vectors of Chagas disease; including species assigned to the genera Triatoma and Paratriatoma. Initial examination of Triatoma lecticularia revealed the hirsuteness covering the entire body-a characteristic and striking feature of members of the genus Paratriatoma-and a systematic study revealed several other morphological characters that are in diagnostic alignment with Paratriatoma. Based on the examination of several specimens (including the lectotype), and with the additional support of molecular and cytogenetic data, we propose the formal transferal of Triatoma lecticularia (Stål, 1859) into the genus Paratriatoma with the resulting new combination: Paratriatoma lecticularia (Stål, 1859) comb. nov. (Hemiptera: Reduviidae: Triatominae).

Keywords: Heteroptera; North America; Triatomini; taxonomy; vectors.